


What If

by EmrysTheMerlin



Series: Heart and Soul [1]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Astcup, Dragon Riders, F/M, Female Hiccup - Freeform, Female Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Gen, Male Astrid, What if Hiccup left Berk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 09:30:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 19,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16910394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmrysTheMerlin/pseuds/EmrysTheMerlin
Summary: What if Hiccup took off on Toothless during her final exam? What if she disappeared for five years? What if a mysterious dragon rider started going from island to island throughout the archipelago, convincing people to stop hunting dragons? What if she arrives on Berk riding the very beast who stole the Chief's daughter years ago?





	1. The Test

**Author's Note:**

> Everything goes wrong at once, Hiccup makes a split second choice that will define the rest of her life.

Everything went wrong when Stoick smashed the hammer against the cage. When Toothless blasted his way into the arena Hiccup made up her mind. She wouldn’t let her father get a hold of her best friend. He was still wearing the rig she’d built. As soon as the smoke from the disintegrated bars cleared and the monstrous nightmare backed off Hiccup leapt onto the saddle and clicked Toothless’ tail open. 

“Let’s go bud!” They took off as the crowd panicked. They spun midair firing four consecutive shots, blasting the doors off the dragon pens and loosing the trapped dragons inside who flew into the sky blasting the armed Vikings who were taking aim at the girl. Even the nightmare rose into the sky with them once he figured out what was really going on here. Stoick screamed as the black creature, the demon turned in the sky with his daughter on its back and flew off in a streak of black. 

“No! Hiccup!” He tried to run after them but a stream of fire from the nightmare who had just tried to kill his child stopped him in his tracks. The captive dragons flew off after the black demon into the rapidly growing storm. Aster screamed after Hiccup as Gobber stared in disbelief up into the sky that had swallowed his apprentice. Taken by dragons, just like her mother. But no, that wasn’t true. She had leapt onto the dragon of her own free will. She’d freed the others. The whole town was in shock as the storm rolled in and rain began pouring from the skies. Stoick stood in the same place he’d been when the dragons had flown off with his only child leading the way. He couldn’t think, couldn’t move. She was gone, just like her mother. 

 

Aster was shattered. He sat watching the sky from the roof of his house, sharpening his axe. He didn’t talk to anyone, not even his parents could get a word out of him. He’d disappeared for a few hours into the forest around the town after the dragons had disappeared but had reappeared with a look of defeat and hadn’t spoken since. The other teens weren’t much better off, each stunned by this turn of events. Gobber had retreated to the forge and locked himself in Hiccups private workroom. 

 

Meanwhile many miles away on a tiny island in a cave out of the rain sobs echoed off the stone walls. Toothless wrapped Hiccup in his wings as the other dragons gathered around the entrance of the cave keeping the cold out. Toothless warbled as Hiccup cried into his scales. She was soaking wet and shaking. Toothless growled at the monstrous nightmare who glanced at him before lighting itself on fire instantly warming the cave to a more comfortable temperature for Hiccup. She wiped her bright green eyes and turned to Toothless. 

“They would never listen, he would never have listened to me. I can never go back. I just can’t.” Toothless warbled and nuzzled his friend, the girl who had spared his life and given him back the sky when it had been taken from him. He looked around at the other dragons they had freed. There was the nightmare that had tried to kill his friend, a deadly nadder, a zippleback, a gronkle and a terrible terror. They had all the beginnings of their own flock here, they would live. They would become the family the young girl needed. The one she could never have back amongst the others of her kind. She wasn’t like them. She was a dragon in her soul. He had sensed it that first time they had flown together. She was one of them, they would show her how to be a dragon since her own kind would not accept her. He shared this idea with the others of their brand new flock and they all agreed. He glanced back down at the girl still wrapped in his wings. She had fallen asleep, tears still staining her face. He nuzzled her again. They would care for her as she had cared for him.


	2. Five Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new story arrives on Berk, just ahead of the legend it belongs to.

Johan the trader had arrived on Berk with new things for the Vikings to buy and best of all new stories. He always carried the best stories. They were sorely in need of entertainment. About four years ago the dragon raids had stopped. They couldn’t find hide nor scale of the creatures. Stoick refused to give up he wanted retribution for his daughter. Five years and he and the other warriors of Berk still couldn’t find the devil of the night fury. Not even a whisper. Johan stood in front of the gathered crowd in the great hall and cleared his throat.

“This is a true story, may Thor strike me down if I lie. I’ve heard tell of this sort of thing before but I never believed it. Not until I saw it with my own eyes. They call her many names but no one knows what her real name is. The Dragon Master, Princess of Dragons, Dragon Rider, Black Lightning and Dragon Valkyrie these are just a few of the names people call her. Whatever you call her she is something like I’ve never seen. I was on Rachlet when it was attacked, but not by her. They were berserkers, as you know they broke the treaty several years ago under the orders of their new chief, Alvin the Treacherous. But they haven’t taken over any lands. They’ve been stopped by this woman. But here’s why I never believed this story. She rides a dragon.” Johan paused for effect as a ripple went through the crowd and Stoick went still.

“She wears armor made of scales shed from the dragons that follow her and her dragon as if she was their chief. She speaks in the tongue of dragons and leads them as one leads a family. I saw it myself. She wears a helm in the likeness of the dragon she rides. It is unlike any beast I’ve ever seen. Black as night with wide green eyes and a blast like purple lightning.” The cup in Stoick’s hand shattered. All eyes were on Johan. Aster had looked up from his tankard. He had been redubbed Aster the Silent after Hiccup had been carried off all those years ago. He hadn’t spoken since that day, the last thing he’d said was her name, screamed after the black beast that Johan now described. Johan didn’t seem to notice the reason for the violent ripple and sudden silence that now echoed around the hall.

“She drove the Berserkers back single handedly. But that’s not all she did. Once the Berserkers were gone she circled back, just her and the black beast she rode. She landed in front of the Chief and spoke to him. She said they were wrong about dragons. That if he would let her she could show him the truth about them. In deference to her for saving the lives of his people he agreed and she mounted her dragon and he mounted after her. They flew off and returned several hours later. He swore to never again kill dragons, that he would take her words to heart. The Chief bowed before her. She flew off then and I haven’t seen her since. She is something new, she has tamed dragons.” Stoick leaned forward in his seat at the head of the hall.

“Johan, what did she look like?” Johan shook his head.

“I never saw her face Stoick. She never took off her helm, not in front of me anyway. Only the Chief on Rachlet saw her face while she was there. According to the stories only the chiefs ever see her face. She’s been to every other island in the archipelago, if the other stories are true.” Stoick slammed his fist into the table.

“Why hasn’t she come here then?” Johan shrugged.

“I don’t know. She never said anything about Berk. Not that I could understand, she seemed to speak with her dragon about something. She spoke to a few of the village elders about how to peacefully deal with dragons. Then she flew off in this direction. I had to sail through a storm to beat her here. If the stories I’ve heard are true she should be headed here next. You’ll know her when you see her. She’s missing her left leg from just below the knee.” Stoicks heart fell. It couldn’t be her then, she wasn’t missing any limbs. It couldn’t be her.

Aster still wasn’t convinced. She had been an accident magnet. It could still be her. He prayed to every god and goddess he could think of that he was right.

 

On a nearby islet a small flock of dragons waited. A figure in mostly black and red armor looked out over the water towards the small shape on the horizon.

" _Are you alright?"_  The black dragon sidled up to his rider who nodded, brown hair blowing in the breeze.

_"I didn’t expect to be coming back here. I don’t know what’s gonna happen here bud. The others should go back to Dragon Island and wait for us. If we don’t come back in three days they should move on without us, back to Dragon’s Edge. I pray they’ll be safe there."_ The dragon nodded and relayed the message to his second in command, a deadly nadder who had taken to calling herself Stormfly. She protested briefly but the black dragon growled once and she shrank back slightly. When the others had flown off he turned back to his rider.

_"We should get going if we want to get there before sundown."_ She didn’t reply, still watching the shape in the distance something like fear in her eyes.

_"Hiccup?"_ Green found green as Hiccup turned to Toothless and smiled slightly.

“Let’s go bud.”


	3. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ravens Cove becomes a meeting place once again.

Just before sundown Aster spotted a shadow moving through the sky. It could have been a small storm cloud but Aster noticed it was moving the wrong way, against the wind. He followed it with his eyes and stood from his perch on the roof, scaling down the wall and racing into the forest. No one followed him, he was one of their best warriors but he had a few odd habits ever since Hiccup had been taken. He raced through the trees and down towards the cove off Ravens Point. He slipped into the crack in the wall and stared down at the scene before him. A slim woman dismounted from the back of a familiar black dragon. There was only one dragon like that. Tears pricked at Aster’s eyes as he stared at her. Her armor was complex, made up of different kinds of scales, mostly black and red with scattered blue here and there. Her boot was brown and the toe was covered in steel that shone as if freshly polished. Her helmet looked like the head of her dragon, it was even covered in the same black scales. She glanced around, the eyeholes hiding her eyes in shadow. She reached up gloved hands and pulled off her helmet deep brown hair falling to just past her chin. Big green eyes stared around as a growl passed through familiar lips. Aster felt tears slip down his face as he quietly slipped down into the cove. She wasn’t paying attention to him, she and her dragon were having a conversation in the rumbling, purring noises that the dragons made. 

“H-Hiccup?” His voice was quiet and scratchy from disuse. She whirled to face him, her hand going to a hilt on her side. He spotted her leg then, the left one was metal from just below the knee down. She stepped forward so she was in front of Toothless who sat watching them. 

“Aster? Is that you?” The tall blonde boy nodded and stepped forward slowly as Hiccup stood stock still. She refused to meet his eyes. 

“I know. I shouldn’t have left, I should have faced my dad back then I should have…” She stopped as Aster reached out and cupped her face with one hand. She flinched slightly as Aster ran his thumb along the scar on her chin.

“You’re even more beautiful than the day you left.” As tears filled Hiccups bright green eyes Aster leaned forward and kissed her gently. Toothless laughed behind them. Hiccup aimed a kick at his saddle and growled at him as she and Aster refused to separate. Aster laughed into the kiss. After a few more minutes they separated Aster laying his forehead against Hiccups. She did look slightly different. She was taller and she’d filled out quite a bit. Though still skinny and not quite muscular she looked much more like a woman now. Small portions of her chin length hair were messily braided. Aster ran a hand through her hair as he glanced down at her leg. 

“What happened? Where have you been?” Hiccup smiled leaning into his hand slightly. She laughed as a tear streaked down her face. 

“So much has happened. So much. Are we still safe here?” Aster nodded intertwining his fingers with hers as he led her to the rock overlooking the lake. They sat down together and she began her story.

“The dragons and I wandered around the archipelago for about a year, learning about each other and trying to figure out what to do. We picked up a few other dragons along the way. I’ve started my own book of dragons. Toothless taught me how to speak Dragonesse during that year and we talked about what we saw when I took you riding. It was the Queen of their nest, but she wasn’t supposed to be. She killed their last Queen generations ago and took her place. She threatened to kill them if they didn’t bring her what she wanted. They called her the Red Death. I couldn’t just let that keep going on, they were basically slaves. So the dragons and I mounted an assault and well long story short we won but at a price.” Hiccup shook her left leg and grinned. 

“The Red Death fell and exploded in the biggest fireball you’ve ever seen. But it knocked me and Toothless out of the sky. He had to grab me by the foot to keep me from roasting alive. Almost took the foot completely off. Hookfang, the monstrous nightmare that was supposed to be my final exam, carried me to the nearest island that wasn’t Berk and they took care of me for a few weeks and let me use their forge to build myself a new foot, and a new saddle for Toothless not that they knew that. They had me do some odd jobs around town to pay them back and once I was healed Hookfang picked me and took me back to Dragon Island. I outfitted Toothless with the new saddle and by that time the Red Deaths flock had come back. They decided to come with us to wander the islands. You wouldn’t believe half the things I’ve seen Aster. And what I’ve learned.” Aster smiled and stroked her hair out of her face again. 

“I’ve heard some of it. Johan told us what happened on Rachlet. Is all that true? You defeated the berserkers all on your own? You changed their chief’s mind about dragons?” Hiccup nodded blushing slightly. 

“Not just me, Toothless and the other dragons helped with the battle. And I changed his mind like I changed yours. One real flight and he knew the truth. Just like you.” She squeezed his hand and glanced up at him. The sun was setting and the light turned her brown hair the red of autumn leaves.

“Is that what you’re going to do here?” Hiccup looked down and frowned. 

“I’m going to try. I have to. I need all the help I can get.” Aster frowned.

“Against what?” Hiccup scowled. 

“His name is Drago Bludvist. He’s a lunatic who thinks he can take whatever he wants. Worse he thinks he can use dragons to do it.” Hiccup stood, letting go of Asters hand and walking back to where she’d dropped her helmet. She picked it up and slipped it back on and turned back to Aster.

“It’s time I talked to my father.”


	4. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dragon Whisperer makes herself known to the rest of Berk.

 

Hiccup watched as Aster walked back into the town head held high. They had agreed that it would be best if she arrived alone though it had taken some time to convince Aster of that. Toothless had taken even longer, they had been talking about this moment for weeks. Toothless wanted to be there for her but Hiccup knew she would have to face this alone. She took a deep breath and waited for a few minutes after Aster entered the Great Hall. She shifted her helmet nervously. A few deep breaths later she straightened up and walked out of the trees into the village. She walked forward, straight towards the entrance to the Great Hall. She didn’t even notice the murmurs that followed her, she’d gotten used to them by now. She expected her reputation to precede her here as it had before. Her false leg made a light clicking noise as she walked purposefully up the stone steps to the doors of the Great Hall.

 

 

Stoick didn’t look up when he heard the doors open. It wasn’t an unusual occurrence. People were always coming in and out of the Great Hall. Travelers often stopped here to hear the latest stories and share their own. But then the noise of the hall died down. That wasn’t normal at all. The only noise now was the clink and thunk of mismatched footsteps. Stoick glanced up and froze. A girl was walking down the hall straight towards him. She was about six feet tall, dressed in unusual armor made of what was unmistakably dragon scales. She wore a helmet that resembled a dragon’s head. It was like she had jumped straight out of Johan’s story. The entire hall was watching her as she walked up to the front table where Stoick, Gobber and Johan sat, all watching her. Gobber was examining her leg and the hilt she carried at her hip with a blacksmiths eye. It was clear to him that there was more to them than there seemed to be. Johan bowed his head as she passed him and walked straight up to Stoick.

  

“Stoick the Vast, Chief of the isle of Berk I am the Dragon Master and I wish to speak with you.” Her voice was muffled by her helmet but determined. The whole hall was quiet for a moment before it practically burst with noise. Everyone was shouting something different. Several had drawn weapons, others were advancing on the girl. She hadn’t moved at all, the black eyes in her helmet stared at Stoick. Snotlout acted first, lashing out at the girl who moved at lightning speed and smacked his wrist hard with an open palm, forcing the weapon out of his hand. As he lunged again she tripped him headlong knocking him into Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Aster stayed back watching her fight. Stoick narrowed his eyes slightly at that, Aster would normally be the first to attack if he saw something as a threat. He didn’t think she was a threat. Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut struggled to their feet.

 

“Enough!” Stoick slammed his hand down onto the table and Snotlout froze still glaring at the girl. The girl turned back to Stoick.

 

“What’s your name?” Gobber asked leaning forward resting his elbow on the table. The girl turned to him and Aster at least could hear the slight smile in her voice as she responded, though there was a melancholy edge to it.

 

“Not something I can give. At least not here, not to everyone.” Stoick stood as the girl turned back to him. He surveyed her carefully as if he could find some emotion in her blank mask. After a moment he spoke.

 

“Johan tells us you were on Rachlet, that you turned the Berserkers back by yourself. He also said that for your bravery you asked only that the chief listen to you about dragons. Is that true?” The girl nodded. Stoick paused. “Why should I listen to you then? You have done nothing for me or mine to show us that we should trust you. Take off your helmet.” The girl shook her head.

 

“That is one thing I cannot do. Not here, not in front of everyone. And I have done more for you and yours than you will ever know. However, I will bow to your request in private.” Stoick thought for a moment.

 

“I could have my warriors remove your helmet for you.” The girl laughed and it sparked something in Stoicks memory. He knew that laugh, but he couldn’t be sure.

 

“You could try. I am sure your warriors are fierce and brave but they won’t get this helmet off me if I don’t want them to.” Stoick narrowed his eyes. But the spark of an idea had formed at the back of his mind and it wouldn’t go away. He thought for a moment as the tension in the room mounted.

 

“Very well, I will go with you. But I have a condition. Two of mine come with us. Him and him.” He pointed first to Gobber then to Aster. The girl nodded.

 

“I accept your terms. Shall we?” With that she turned and walked out of the Great Hall, Aster only a few steps behind her the whole way. Gobber stood and shook his head.

 

“I’ve got a feeling about this Stoick, not a good one either.” Stoick nodded grabbing his axe off the table before they followed the girl out into the town. She and Aster were waiting for them at the edge of the forest. The girl said nothing as they caught up and she led them out into the darkening woods. Gobber walked next to Stoick and cleared his throat.

 

“She seems to know these woods really well. I don’t trust it.” Stoick nodded to Aster’s back, he was walking very close to the girl but he wasn’t tense in the slightest. It was almost as if he was comfortable.

 

“He seems alright with this and he’s the best judge of character I’ve seen in five years.” Gobber nodded he knew who the other, better, judge was. Hiccup had known Dagur wasn’t trustworthy and that Snotlout was a power hungry suck up for years but no one had listened to her until she was gone. The rest of the walk was silent. The girl led them to a corner of the island Stoick hadn’t seen before. Through a crack in the rocks she led them down to a beautiful cove. She turned back to them and sighed.

 

“Alright. I gave my word so here goes. Just don’t panic.” She slowly raised her hands and after a deep breath lifted her helmet from her head.

 


	5. Face To Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stoick sees someone he never expected to see again.

 

 

Stoick was frozen to the spot as the helmet came off. Messy brown hair fell to chin length, freckles stood out against her pale skin and her bright green eyes looked scared but determined. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. All he could do was stammer a name, a name he hadn’t spoken aloud in five long years. 

“H… Hiccup?” It was a question if he was honest with himself. He couldn’t seem to equate the woman in front of him with the girl that had been stolen all those years ago. But no that wasn’t right. He’d always known that wasn’t right but he couldn’t accept the truth. Couldn’t accept that she had left to protect the dragons from them, from him. But now the truth stared him in the face. She stared at him, eyes searching for something as she slowly nodded. For a moment the world seemed to have frozen as he took in all the changes that had occurred. She had grown up, strong and beautiful. She looked so much like her mother it brought tears to his eyes, but what set them flowing was the fact that she had grown into a full-fledged woman, a warrior by the looks of things, without him. The moment shattered as Gobber rushed forward and hugged her tight.

 

“You idiot! Where have you been!? We’ve been looking for you since you left! And now this! I mean…” He trailed off as he looked back and forth between Stoick and Hiccup. He let go of Hiccup and stepped back looking down at his feet. There was silence for another minute. Then a slight growl rolled through the air. Hiccup turned her gaze away from his and growled back at the sound before clearing her throat.

 

“Well I’ve been pretty much everywhere Gobber. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you half the things I’ve seen. As to the large awkward question hanging in the air that no one wants to ask, I left because I had to protect him.” She gestured to the rock behind Stoick where the great black beast that she had flown off on years ago sat watching them with bright green eyes. Stoick tensed as the beast jumped down off its perch and walked around the small group of Vikings to stand next to Hiccup, his tail resting in front of her mismatched legs. Now that he could see him up close and personal, seemingly without the threat of a blast of fire to the face, Stoick could see that the dragons left tail fin was artificial just like Hiccup’s leg. His hand itched to reach for the axe at his back but he got the feeling that if he did that he would lose Hiccup again, this time forever. “I left because you were wrong. Because I knew no one would listen to me.” Aster looked over at her and to Stoick and Gobber’s great surprise spoke.

 

“Hey! I resent that.” Hiccup laughed, looking over at the blonde boy with a glimmer of something in her big green eyes. Gobber knew that look, that was exactly how Valka used to look at Stoick.

 

“The only reason you listened back then was because I didn’t give you another choice. We did kind of kidnap you.” The large black dragon laughed, at least that’s what Stoick thought it was doing. Hiccup elbowed the dragon and glared at him. “Anyway. I knew you weren’t going to listen to me, you never did unless I had something real to show you. Well now I do. You can kill me after if you want to but please let me show you the truth, show you why the dragons stopped attacking you. Please.” Stoick took a step forward and the dragon tensed watching him closely. Hiccup put a hand on his scaly shoulder to reassure him. Stoick saw the fear in Hiccups eyes too and couldn’t speak. She was afraid of him. He couldn’t find words so he just nodded. Some of the tension went out of her shoulders.

 

“Alright so how are you going to show us? About this dragon of yours?” Gobber asked raising an eyebrow at her looking interested but skeptical.

 

“Us?” Hiccup looked around at the other two in the clearing as if she’d forgotten they were there. Aster narrowed his bright blue eyes.

 

“If you think I’m letting you out of my sight any time soon you are the idiot Snotlout always accused you of being.” Hiccup rolled her eyes. Then glanced at the dragon who was meeting her eyes with his, if Stoick didn’t know better he would say the dragon looked almost condescending.

 

“Give us a second.” Hiccup grabbed the dragon by the ear and the edged way from the others. All Stoick could hear was a low growling sound.

 

 ‘ _I can’t carry that many people Hiccup.’_ Hiccup nodded and tapped Toothless lightly on the ear.

 

_‘I know that dummy. Two at most is the limit, except for Stormcutters and Timberjacks. Call Stormfly.’_ Toothless tilted his head at her in confusion.

 

_‘Stormfly went home with the rest.’_ Hiccup raised an eyebrow at him and grinned.

 

‘ _Did she now? Cause I don’t remember her ever listening to you when you tell her to go away. Do it while I calm them down.’_ Hiccup gestured at the Vikings over her shoulder. Toothless warbled in annoyance and turned away from Hiccup who turned back to the other humans in the cove.

 

“Toothless is going to call a friend. One other dragon, Aster can fly her. She’ll do most of the work don’t worry.” Stoick raised an eyebrow at his daughter as Toothless let out a warbling call.

 

“What was all that?” Hiccup sighed looking down and running a hand through her hair just like she used to when she was in trouble.

 

“That was me talking to Toothless. Took about a year but he taught me to speak Dragoneese. It’s just easier to talk to him like that.” Hiccup was saved from the awkwardness that now filled the air by a bright blue deadly nadder flying down into the cove and raising its hackles at the other three people there.

 

‘ _It’s ok Stormfly. They are friends. This is Aster, I think you two are going to get along really well._ Aster could you walk over here slowly please?” Aster did as she asked without hesitation. She took his hand and slowly extended it so it was a few inches from the dragon’s nose. A few seconds later the nadder was nuzzling Aster who laughed as it sniffed his face. Hiccup smiled as she walked back over to Toothless pulling open his saddle bag and taking out a length of rope. “You’re gonna need this to help you hang on. _Do you mind Stormfly? You’ll have to carry two._ ” The dragon nodded and lowered her head so Hiccup could secure the rope around two of her spines. Hiccup scratched her under her chin and motioned for Aster to take over after a few moments.

 

“Just avoid that spot or she’ll go straight to sleep.” With that Hiccup turned to Gobber and Stoick.

 

“Alright. Gobber you’re gonna be riding with Aster on Stormfly. She’s a sweetheart but do not insult her, they do understand Norse even if they can’t speak it. Stoick you’re going to be on Toothless with me. That sound alright to everyone?” There were nods from everyone present as Aster continued to scratch Stormfly under the chin. Soon they were all sitting on the backs of dragon, everyone but Stoick.

 

“Please, for once trust me.” Hiccup reached out a hand towards him, her helmet sitting in front of her. He paused a moment years of prejudice holding him back. But he wouldn’t risk losing Hiccup again. He took her hand and mounted Toothless behind her. Hiccup slipped on her helmet and they took off into the sky. 

 

 

Stoick had his eyes slammed shut, hands gripping the back of Hiccup’s armor. Gobber shouted at him from Stormflys back.

 

“Open your eyes Stoick This is something you have to see!” Stoick reluctantly opened his eyes a bit and was stunned at what he saw. Berk from high in the night sky was beautiful, windows glowing with fire and light reflecting off the metal of the forge. It was truly a sight to behold. Hiccup moved her left foot and they shot up into the sky, flying above the clouds Stoick looked around as lights filled the sky. Bright and colorful and beautiful. He looked at Hiccup and though he couldn’t see her face he could tell that she belonged here.

 

“It’s beautiful up here. But you still haven’t shown me why the dragons stopped attacking.” Hiccup smiled under her helmet and patted Toothless on the head.

 

_‘Let’s go home buddy!’_ Toothless turned midair followed closely by Stormfly and headed off towards Dragon Island.

 


	6. Complications

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup introduces her father to a few new faces.

Aster recognized the route they were taking once they were almost there. The two of them had taken it five years previously and found the Red Death. But as they rounded the last bend and the island came into view it looked like a completely different place. Grass and small trees were growing up the side of the mountain. The shore was covered in thick greenery growing between rocks. Dragons were everywhere in every shape and size, many that Aster had never seen before. Several flew up to meet them flying in circles around the two dragons. They broke off as Toothless lead Stormfly through a crack in the mountain. The inside of the mountain was different too. It seemed that over the five years since Aster had last been there the lava that the Red Death had lounged in had solidified. Several dragons were sleeping on the rock. They turned left and landed in the entrance to a medium sized cave where a largish dragon that looked like it was wearing armor lay curled up watching them.

 

“This is Windshear. He’s the only Razorwing here. He doesn’t like new people much. Kinda like his rider.” Hiccup grinned up at an opening inside the cave. There was a feminine laugh and a figure dressed in a brown hooded tunic, a metal skirt, brown leggings and sturdy looking boots hopped down from the crack. She had her hood pulled up and a mask covered the bottom half of her face. The only visible feature on her face was a pair of bright green eyes. They weren’t the same green as Hiccups but they were just as bright. Hiccup pulled off her helmet and set it down inside the cave mouth.

 

“Come on in. We’ve got a lot to talk about.” Aster, Stoick and Gobber followed Hiccup into the cave. As they walked Toothless and Stormfly lit several torches that were set into the wall. The girl in the mask followed them, slipping around them to talk to Hiccup in lowered voices.

 

“Is that who I think it is?” Hiccup glanced back over her shoulder at the three men following them.

 

“Which one?” Hiccup could barely see the eyebrow raised.

 

“Any of them really, but most notably the tall blonde cute one that Stormfly seems to have taken a liking to.” Hiccup glanced over her shoulder and laughed. Stormfly was indeed following Aster down the cave. Aster glanced over his shoulder and grinned at Stormfly.

 

“She seems to have taken a liking to you Aster. That’s a good thing, finding a perfect match between dragon and rider is hard. Took us forever to find her one. We thought she and Stormfly would be pretty good together but they just didn’t end up meshing well.” Aster nodded petting the dragon as they walked.

 

“No offence but I’m kind of glad. Hiccup this place is huge. Where are we going?” Hiccup smiled as they came to another slightly larger crack in the wall. She motioned them inside.

 

“This is my place. You know you can take the mask off here. I can’t introduce you until you do.” The girl nodded and pulled off her hood revealing a long black braid, pulling down her mask she revealed a pretty pale face. She smiled at them.

 

“Hello, my name is Heather. Nice to meet you. Very nice indeed.” Hiccup elbowed Heather in the side before motioning to several chairs made of what appeared to be white wood. The four stools around a small table made of the same material it was covered in a large map that hung over the sides of the table Heather grinned at Hiccup and walked over to the map as the others sat down at the table. Heather began folding the map carefully, once she was done she tucked it into what appeared to be a book cover and put it up on a shelf made of the same white material. Gobber looked down at the table and rubbed his fingers along the top of it.

 

“What’s this made of?” Hiccup looked down at the table.

 

“Dragon bone. The jaw bone of the biggest dragon I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t really excited about the idea of using it as furniture but the dragons insisted. They said it shouldn’t be wasted.” Heather sat down on the last stool and looked expectantly up at Hiccup. Hiccup raised an eyebrow.

 

“What Heather? You’ve heard this story before.” Heather nodded.

 

“Yes I have, but it never gets old. Seriously the way you tell it never gets old.” Hiccup rolled her eyes and began the story. It was much more detailed than the brief version she had told Aster. She told them every twist and turn of the fight between her and the red death. She spared no detail. Gobber bit back a shriek as she told them about falling into the flame created by the exploding red death. Hiccup finished her story and Heather clapped. Hiccup rolled her eyes. Stoick stood and the whole room went quiet. Heather’s hand inched towards her weapon, an axe with a peculiar handle. Before anyone could do anything Stoick wrapped his arms around his daughter. She was stock still as if this was the last thing she had expected. Tears pricked at her eyes.

 

“I am so sorry Hiccup. I am so sorry. I should have listened to you. I should have listened to you so many times Hiccup, I’m sorry.” Hiccup hugged her father back and cried into his shoulder. After a few minutes they broke apart at the sound of running footsteps. Hiccup whirled as a figure ran into the room. He was a medium sized Viking, a little taller than Aster with black hair and large hazel eyes. He wore an outfit similar to Heather’s with a hooded tunic, though his was green, and a mask. He wore leather armor with the occasional bright yellow scale and he was panting. Hiccup grabbed his shoulder as he slipped.

 

“Whoa! Daret what happened?” The boy, he looked to be a few years younger than Hiccup when he pulled his mask off.

 

“The… The ice spitter’s back. I didn’t get a look at it but it attacked a trapper outpost not too far from here. I caught one of the trappers though. He’s down in the hole. Skyclaw is keeping an eye on him along with the first few…” Daret caught his breath and looked around his hazel eyes widening.

 

“And I’m interrupting something aren’t I?” Hiccup laughed.

 

“No, you caught the tail end of it. Everyone this is Daret, one of the dragon riders of Dragon Isle.” Heather and Daret laughed.

 

“Yeah totally not your dragon riders or anything. Not like you taught us everything we know and saved our lives or anything.” Hiccup rolled her eyes but Aster saw her slight blush as Daret shook hands all around. He would never admit it to anyone but Aster felt a tiny bit jealous of this boy who had been spending time with Hiccup when he couldn’t. But the Daret reached him and he shook his hand.

 

“Wait a minute is this who I think it is?” Hiccup blushed a deep red and threw the nearest thing to her hand at Daret’s head. Her hilt smacked into his head and he rushed over to hide behind Heather.

 

“Don’t look at me Daret. I’m not the one who told Aster that she talks about him all the time, almost nonstop.” Hiccup lunged at Heather and the two wrestled across the room as Daret tried to hide behind the nearest piece of furniture he could find which happened to be the chair Aster was currently sitting in. Gobber turned to Daret.

 

“Are they usually like this?” Daret shrugged.

 

“Sometimes. They do fight like this when one of them says something the other doesn’t want someone else to know. Can never tell who’s gonna win.” At that moment there was the sound of metal against flesh and Heather stumbled back limping slightly.

 

“That’s just playing dirty Hiccup. Metal leg kicking is against the rules and you know it.” Hiccup grinned through a slightly bloodied nose.

 

“All’s fair in love and war, you taught me that one. But we’ve got better things to do than fight right now. We should be interrogating the trapper.” Daret stepped out from behind Aster.

 

 “I already did. He was pretty cooperative after Skyclaw tried to set him on fire. Don’t think he’d ever seen a Thornridge before.” Hiccup grinned whipping her nose on her sleeve.

 

“Probably not, not many have or do. How long do we have before Drago makes his move?” Stoick froze but Daret didn’t seem to notice.

 

“Well he didn’t know specifically but he did know his boss’s deadline. Said they had to deliver a batch of dragons to Drago in one week. So we’ve got a week to find the ice spitters nest.” Stoick turned to Hiccup.

 

“Drago? Drago Bludvist?” Hiccup nodded.

 

“A madman who thinks he can do whatever he wants and take whatever he wants by using dragons to scare people.” Stoick nodded.

 

“Aye I know him. You’ve got Berk behind you Hiccup. Can you teach us to ride dragons in under a week?” Hiccup raised an eyebrow.

 

“I can’t teach the whole island but a few yeah. I can teach Aster, you, Gobber and a few others.” Gobber sighed.

 

“Lassie I’d rather keep my feet on the ground when I fight.” Hiccup nodded.

 

“I think I’ve got just the dragon for you. You too St… Dad. I think you’ll get along great.” Hiccup lead them out of the cave and into the large cavern that Aster knew had once housed the Red Death. She weaved through the dragons patting several on the head, Toothless following closely behind her.  Soon she reached a large green dragon the likes of which Stoick had never seen before. She scratched him behind the horn on his head and spoke in the rumbling roars the dragons used. The large green dragon seemed to bow its head to her slightly. Then it turned to Stoick.

 

“Dad this is Skullcrusher. He’s a rumblehorn, quite the smart dragon, if a bit stubborn and serious.” Gobber laughed.

 

“So you’re matching personality’s eh?” Hiccup almost held in her laugh as Stoick and Skullcrusher got to know each other, carefully directed by Hiccup.


	7. That Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup and Aster have a moment.

            The small group agreed to leave at first light. Daret would be heading back out to see if he and several of the other dragons could find the ice spitters home. Hiccup and Heather would be going back to Berk to train new Dragon riders there. Stoick dropped off to sleep leaning against the wall of Hiccup’s cave next to Skullcrusher. Gobber was leaning on the head of his own dragon, a hotburple named Grump who had taken a liking to him and shown it by bowling him off his feet and laying on top of him. Heather had retreated to her own living space. Daret was curled up near the entrance to the caves in case the trapper he’d caught caused any trouble. Aster was dozing off under Stormfly’s wing when he heard a soft clicking noise. He opened his eyes just in time to see The edge of a black and tan tail fin rounding the corner. He frowned and looked around. Hiccup and Toothless were gone. Careful not to wake his dragon he slipped out from under her wing and crept out of the cave. Daret was sitting up petting the head of his dragon, a scaly yellow spinney creature Aster had never seen before.

            “Oh hey Aster, couldn’t sleep? Seems to be going around.” Aster nodded. There was no sign of Hiccup so he sat down next to Daret.

            “How do you and Hiccup know each other?” Daret glanced up from his dragon’s head and grinned at Aster.

            “What I said earlier about her saving our lives, mine and Heather’s, wasn’t a joke. She’s amazing, like a sister to me. My town was being raided by men from Outcast Island, Alvin and his men were raiding us constantly. The dragons weren’t really a huge problem, probably because we were farther from here than Berk but they’d raid us every so often too. Until about four years ago then the dragon raids stopped entirely. But Alvin’s raids just got worse. One day about three years ago he just decided to burn down the village. Hiccup and her dragons were passing by and I honestly don’t know what would have happened to me if she hadn’t been. She and her dragons attacked Alvin and his outcasts. Apparently they have a history, I don’t know all of it.” Skyclaw shifted under Daret’s hands. Daret smiled down at the dragon resting its head in his lap.

            “She was busy fighting Alvin. Hiccup didn’t see me but Skyclaw did. Snatched me right out of my own burning house. A bunch of other people made it out that day but only because of Hiccup and her dragons. She couldn’t stop the whole place burning to the ground though. She dropped most of us off at the nearest friendly island but Skyclaw didn’t want to put me down. I lost everything that day and I didn’t really want anything to do with him but he was insistent. Hiccup thinks he lost his nest when he was young and sees me as a kindred spirit. She won’t tell me for sure though. Apparently Skyclaw doesn’t like talking about it. Heather won’t talk about her family. She was already here when I joined up.” Aster raised an eyebrow at Daret.

            “You don’t speak dragoneese?” Daret shook his head.

            “Skyclaw tried to teach me, still tries sometimes but I just don’t have the knack for it. That or Toothless is a better teacher.” Skyclaw smacked Daret in the head with a wing. Daret grinned down at the dragon.

            “Speaking of, have you seen Toothless or Hiccup.” Daret nodded resuming scratching Skyclaw under the chin.

            “As a matter of fact I’ve seen both. They head up the volcano when one of them can’t sleep. They’ve got a spot where they sit and stargaze until they fall asleep. Go straight up and turn left after you pop out the top of the mountain. There’s a spot where the grass grows a bit thicker than anywhere else on the mountain. That’s where they’ll be.” Aster frowned looking up towards the top of the mountain.

            “Well how am I supposed to…” There was a tug at his shoulder and he turned to see Stormfly waiting next to him. Daret smiled up at him.

            “They have a way of knowing when they’re needed.” Aster smiled at Daret and mounted Stormfly.

            “Thanks.” Daret nodded and stretched slightly.

            “Not a problem.” Daret smiled as Stormfly and Aster flew off up to the top of the mountain and disappeared from sight.

 

 

            Soon they were landing again, Stormfly curled up on the grass and seemed to fall straight asleep.  Aster looked around and frowned. He didn’t see Hiccup or Toothless anywhere.  But then he heard it, over the noise of sleeping dragons there was the soft sound of growls and purrs that hiccup had called dragoneese. Aster crept forward and spotted Hiccup and Toothless laying in a patch of grass surrounded by large flower bushes. The flowers were bright white and seemed to glow in the moonlight. Hiccup had removed her armor and now wore a brown tunic and matching trousers. She still wore her boot though. Her metal leg glinted in the moonlight. She was talking to Toothless who looked drowsy. Toothless had a wing folded over Hiccup like a blanket. Aster smiled as Toothless opened one eye and rumbled at Hiccup who looked over her shoulder.

            “Hey Aster. You alright?” Aster nodded stepping forwards and sitting down next to Hiccup.

            “Yeah. I just heard you leaving and I was worried about you. Are you alright?” Hiccup nodded but she wasn’t looking at him. She was fiddling with her false foot. Aster gently tilted her head up and kissed her on the cheek. She blushed slightly.

            “You could always see right through me Aster.” Aster laughed.

            “Not really I can just tell when you aren’t acting like yourself. I know it’s been a while but you just seem uncomfortable.” Hiccup sighed pushing Toothless’s wing off her, he grumbled but curled back up and seemed to drift off to sleep.

            “Yeah, I guess I am. It’s just weird. I never thought my dad would accept this. Accept me. It’s kinda difficult to wrap my head around the idea of going back to Berk you know.” Aster nodded and took Hiccup’s hand.

            “You won’t be alone this time. I promise you that.” Hiccup smiled and leaned against him. He looked up at the sparkling night sky. He looked down at Hiccup to ask her something but she was already asleep. He smiled as Toothless wrapped his wing around them and went back to sleep.

 

 

             The next morning Aster awoke to Hiccup poking him in the side. He gently swatted her had away and felt her lips on his forehead. He smiled and opened his eyes. She pulled him to his feet and they mounted up and flew back into the mountain to wake the others. Heather was waiting for them at the entrance to the cave a wide grin on her face. Daret was standing next to her fiddling with a large silver shield. Several dragons were waiting with him several nightmares and nadders and a small flock of terrors. Hiccup put a hand on his shoulder. 

            “Alright, remember, if anything happens, if you find anything send a terror to Berk. We’ll be there to help you as fast as we can fly.” Daret nodded and mounted Skyclaw. He took off and the small flock of dragons followed him. Stoick and Gobber walked out of the cave a few moments later. Hiccup dodged back into the cave to change into her armor. While they waited a small group of dragons came up to them and waited. There was a red monstrous nightmare, a large brown gronkle, and a hideous zippleback. Hiccup reemerged moments later dressed in her armor and scooped up her helmet sliding it on before she mounted Toothless. The others followed suit and mounted their dragons taking off with Hiccup and Toothless in the lead.

 

 


	8. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup and Heather arrive on Berk, the teens meet their dragons.

            A few hours later they landed back on Berk near the edge of the forest, slightly away from the town at Hiccup’s request. They reentered the town to cheers and loud whispering. Hiccup and Heather, both still concealing their faces, followed behind Stoick and Gobber, Aster walked next to Hiccup. Everyone looked at them suspiciously. Stoick gathered the town together in the great hall with Hiccup, Aster, Heather and Gobber stood behind him. Stoick wasted no time.  

            “The dragon rider was right. We’ve been wrong about them all these years.” The hall burst with noise. Stoick slammed his fist down on the table.

            “Quiet! You all know what dragons have taken from us, from me. But until yesterday we had no idea why.” With that he told the story of the Red Death, of the dragon rider that had saved their lives. That she was the reason the dragon raids had stopped. Snotlout seemed to be the only one with a real issue with this.

            “Well who is she? Why would she do that for people she doesn’t know?” The girl in the hood and the mask whispered something to the dragon rider who nodded. The green eyes under the hood turned to Snotlout glaring at him as if it were a dragon under the hood not a person. The dragon rider placed a hand on the hooded figures shoulder placating. To Snotlouts surprise Aster was glaring daggers at him too. The rider lifted her hands to her helmet and slowly lifted it off her head. Gasps filled the room as they all saw who was under the helmet. Fishlegs was the first to actually manage words.

            “H… Hiccup? I... Is that you?” The woman standing in front of them could be no one else. She was taller and prettier but those eyes were unmistakable.

            “That’s right Fishlegs. It’s me.” The whole town was staring at her now. She felt a bit self-conscious, she ran a hand through her hair as Stoick continued to explain the situation. The teens were whispering to themselves but Hiccup and Heather could hear every word they said as they stared at Hiccup.

            “What happened to Hiccup?” Ruffnut asked looking her up and down Tuffnut was practically leering.

            “Who cares?” Heather fingered the axe at her side. Hiccup had made it for her shortly after they had met. The handle was made of lightweight Gronkle iron and had a canister in it that held zippleback gas that could be ignited on a whim. They had yet to figure out how to do what Hiccup had done with her sword so the blade itself could be lit on fire but they were still working on it. Hiccup shook her head at Heather. Heather frowned but obeyed and took her hand off her axe as Stoick finished his story.

            “Hiccup and her dragon rider are willing to teach a few of us more able bodied Vikings how to ride dragons so we can defend ourselves against Drago. Any willing should volunteer now.” There was a near deafening silence in the room. Aster glared around and stepped forward. His voice was still slightly ragged from disuse but it was strong and determined none the less.

            “I have already volunteered.” There was a clear challenge written in his face as if he was asking anyone to tell him he was wrong. No one spoke then the one Hiccup least expected to speak stepped forward.

            “I’ll do it.” Fishlegs had his hand raised and now stood in front of the crowd. Aster smiled at him and offered him a hand, he was taller than Hiccup remembered him being and he had the beginnings of facial hair on his chin though it was really just blonde stubble. He was much more muscular now but still had quite a bit of what his mother called loveable fluff. He took Asters hand and shook it before walking over to Hiccup who smiled and held out the hand not holding her helmet.

            “It’s good to see you again Fishlegs.” Fishlegs smiled at Hiccup and shook her hand.

            “It’s good to see you too Hiccup.” He stood next to Hiccup facing the crowd of people. Stoick smiled at him warmly. Tuffnut shrugged and walked to lean on the wall next to Fishlegs, Ruffnut following seconds later. Snotlout scoffed and rolled his eyes walking up to stand next to Ruffnut with his arms folded looking slightly miffed. Stoick smiled slightly as Hiccup and Heather nodded at each other.

            “Alright, Hiccup will the arena serve as a suitable training ground?” Hiccup nodded.

            “Yeah it should work, we’ll need to have the cage lifted so they feel comfortable. But it should work. I’d like to introduce them as soon as possible, we only have a week to get them comfortable with each other after all, less if we get the message from Daret early.” Stoick nodded and turned to Gobber.

            “You’ll see to it?” Gobber nodded and left the hall to go see to it. Hiccup turned to Heather and smiled.

            “We should introduce them now.” Heather, who still had not removed her hood or mask, nodded. Hiccup motioned for the others to follow her as she led the way out of the hall and towards the forest. Once they were on the edge of the forest Hiccup turned back to the others, Heather still silent at her side. As green eyes watched the others from underneath her hood Hiccup handed Heather her helmet. Then she cupped her hands around her mouth and roared. It echoed into the trees and everyone but Aster looked confused. Hiccup turned back to them and smiled. A roar echoed back from the forest. Hiccup tilted her head listening then nodded.

            “They’ll be here in a few minutes.” Fishlegs tilted his head, looking confused.

            “You speak to dragons?” Hiccup nodded.

            “They call it Dragoneese. Toothless taught me about four years back, before we defeated the red death.” Snotlout raised a derisive eyebrow.

            “Who’s Toothless? Sounds like a weak little dragon.” Hiccup smiled as a black blur came barreling out of the forest and bowled the teens over before stopping next to Hiccup and grinning a toothy grin. Hiccup scratched the large black dragon under his chin as she tried to contain her laughter. Heather laughed aloud helping only Aster to his feet.

            “This is Toothless. And these are the dragons I think will suit you lot best. Aster and Stormfly have already paired up. Time to meet the rest of the dragons we rescued from Berk.” Hiccup grinned as five other dragons made their way much more sedately out of the forest. Windshear walked straight up to Heather and nuzzled her. Heather smiled and scratched him on the top of the head. Stormfly tromped up to Aster and bumped her head against his hand, begging for his attention. He gave in and began scratching her under the chin, mimicking Hiccups movements. The other three dragons looked around and the monstrous nightmare rumbled at Hiccup. She nodded and stepped away from Toothless.

            “Alright, Fishlegs come here.” Fishlegs only trembled a little as he walked forward. Hiccup smiled at him reassuringly.

            “It’s ok, she’s not gonna bite. This is Meatlug, she’s a real sweetheart. I promise you two are gonna get along great.” Hiccup guided Fishlegs hand to Meatlugs nose and instructed him to scratch her head just like Aster was doing to Stormfly.  Slowly Hiccup backed away, it seemed to be more so Fishlegs wouldn’t notice than for Meatlugs benefit. Then she turned to the twins and did the same with them and the zippleback. Snotlout went pale as he realized what that meant for him.

            “No… No way am I getting near that thing. It can light itself on fire!” Hiccup frowned at him.

            “His name is Hookfang and he’s been looking for a rider for five years. He’s refused everyone else but for some reason he seems to think you’re it.” Hiccup turned to Hookfang and raised an eyebrow at him. The large red dragon nodded decisively. Hiccup took Snotlout’s hand and guided him, stammering the whole way, to the snout of the dragon who let him put his hand on the rough scales there. Snotlout laughed slightly as Hiccup removed her hand from his letting the dragons and riders get acquainted on their own for a bit while she and Toothless watched. Heather pulled down her mask and took off her hood letting her long lack braid fall free and revealing her pretty pale face.

            “I swear you’re a miracle worker Hiccup. The stories I’ve heard about this lot I really didn’t expect this to work.” Hiccup rolled her eyes taking Heather’s removal of her mask and hood as the go ahead she introduced her to the others as they walked towards the arena, dragons in tow. 

 


	9. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Riders of Dragon Island show off and teach the Berkians to trust their dragons.

 

 

            After a few hours of the new riders of Berk getting to know their dragons Hiccup decided it was time to take the training to the next step. She was rushing them along a bit she knew but she didn’t have time to take this slow like she had with Daret and Heather. They only had a week before Drago would most likely make his move. She was hoping that Daret would find the Ice Spitter before that, she would love to talk to it and see if they could work together against Drago. Plus, there was an organization behind its attacks that she knew from experience an angry dragon just couldn’t achieve. It made her curious. So after a short whispered argument with Heather she had the Riders of Berk mount up and take to the skies following her and Toothless. She was amazed at how well everyone was taking this.

 

            Even the rest of the village seemed excited about the prospect of a battle, though that didn’t surprise her quite as much as their open acceptance of the dragons. The rest of the village was getting acquainted with the dragons who had been sent for by Hiccup and Toothless once they knew it was safe. Terrors were great messengers as long as they knew a treat would be waiting for them when they got back. Gobber was starting to make saddles from the plans Hiccup had thought to bring with her. Hiccup shook herself out of her thoughts as Toothless growled at her to tell her they had arrived. Hiccup turned Toothless to face the other dragons and their riders. They were about three miles out to sea and Hiccup grinned at them. 

            “Alright, this is a trust building exercise. Heather has lived through this already, as has my other rider Daret who Aster can attest is in fact real Ruffnut.” Ruffnut rolled her eyes at Hiccup. The teasing had already started though it was quite a bit more hesitant than before.

            “Alright, Toothless and I will go first to show you what you have to do.” Hiccup patted Toothless on the head and unhooked her foot from the stirrup. She simply leaned to the side and fell off her dragon. Fishlegs screamed, Aster stopped breathing entirely. Ruffnut and Tuffnut both gasped and high fived and Snotlout swore looking almost impressed. Toothless waited a minute just to show off and dove after her, his tail locked in the perfect position. They fell together, face to face, for a moment before Toothless turned over and Hiccup mounted back up, mid freefall. Hiccup hooked her foot back into the stirrup and they shot up past the waiting group in a streak of black and brown before circling them once and coming back around to their original position.

 

            The twins burst into applause and Snotlout grunted in derision but it was clear in his eyes that he was quite impressed. Fishlegs started clapping enthusiastically and Heather was laughing so hard she almost fell off of Windshear. Hiccup raised an eyebrow at her and she simply pointed at Aster who looked like he was going to have a fit. Hiccup bit back a laugh and glided over so she and Toothless were upside down over Aster. She grinned innocently.

            “What’s wrong? I was only showing off a little bit.” Tuffnut leered again and spoke.

            “I’d love to show off a few moves to you.” Hiccup glared over at him as he bounced his eyebrows at her. Then there were hands at her face and her head was being turned towards Aster’s. She opened her mouth to ask what he was doing but before she could make a sound he sealed his lips over hers in a messy slightly awkward kiss. Toothless chortled his deep raspy laugh as Heather whooped and Fishlegs cheered. When they resurfaced Hiccup was bright pink and Aster grinned at her before tipping to the side and freefalling through the air just as she had done. Toothless righted himself as Stormfly dove after her rider catching him easily. Once he was back on their level Hiccup could see that he was hiding a bit of a blush as he glared over at Tuffnut whose mouth was still hanging open. Hiccup was still bright red and stammered slightly as she tried to salvage the lesson.

            “Snotlout! Your turn.” Her cousin grinned at her teasingly, he seemed to have gained a modicum of respect for her since she’d revealed her identity, though that could have something to do with the fact that she’d proved succinctly in front of everyone only two days earlier that she didn’t need a dragon to take him down.  He raised his arms and whooped as he tipped sideways off Hookfang who simply hovered in the air, wings beating occasionally to keep him airborne. Hiccup raised an eyebrow and growled a question at the large red dragon.

            “ _You gonna catch him?”_ Hookfang, who had clearly been deep in thought about something, looked down and growled out a swear as he shot after his rider, just managing to catch him before he would have hit the waves. Hiccup laughed loudly as Hookfang muttered about stupid confusing human mating rituals and riders who didn’t warn him before they did stupid things. Trying to contain her laughter Hiccup relayed most of the message to Snotlout who was pouting on his dragons back. Snotlout frowned but nodded slightly down at his dragon more than at Hiccup. Fishlegs went next without incident, Meatlug was already spoiling him rotten like she did all her kids, Hiccup was just happy they were getting along so well. Ruff and Tuff landed on the wrong heads but the dragons solved that problem by tossing the twins back into the air and catching them properly. Heather decided to show off a bit and stood up on Windshear, stepping off with confidence. Not to be outdone by her own student Hiccup once again unhooked her foot and pulled her legs up into a crouch on Toothless before front flipping off of him to the front, he and Windshear dove in unison as the two girls plummeted towards the icy water below. Their dragons circled them for a good minute before they each mounted up and shot back into the air, mock fighting as they went just to show off for the new recruits. When they eventually reached the rest of the group both the girls and dragons were slightly out of breath. They decided it would be prudent to head back in after that as the sun was starting to set.

 

            When they arrived back at the arena they discovered that the cage had been removed entirely, Hiccup wasn’t sure how Stoick had managed that but it made her happy. The dragons were all tired and settled down for the night in a large pile. Stoick had invited Hiccup to return to her old room and she had accepted the offer, it would be different to sleep in her old bed again. After she made sure the dragons were properly fed she went up to the great hall. Aster had waited with her while the others had wandered off, Snotlout and the twins talking excitedly about their flying lesson and Heather and Fishlegs had wandered in the other direction talking animatedly about dragons. After dinner in the great hall Aster walked Hiccup to her old house, it felt so foreign now like she didn’t belong here, but then again that wasn’t too different from before the reasons behind it had just changed. There was an awkward silence.

            “Hiccup are you alright, you’ve been really quiet.” Hiccup shrugged looking up at the house in front of her a hint of bitter nostalgia in her eyes.

            “There aren’t a whole lot of very happy memories here, plus it’s weird to be back under a roof after nearly five years of living in my, admittedly well furnished, cave. How is it that was more comfortable for me than this is?” She sounded so uncertain of herself. She shook her head looking melancholy.

            “It’s just I don’t know if I can adjust back to this, back to what he wants me to be. I don’t think I was ever capable of being what he wants. I don’t know what I am, not quite a Viking and never a real dragon.” The last sentence was spoken at a whisper so low Aster almost missed it. He pulled Hiccup close and kissed her gently. Then he lay his forehead against hers.

            “What you’re looking for is in here. It always has been.” He tapped a finger over her heart. She smiled up at him, he was only a few inches taller than her. She kissed him one more time before making her way up to the door. He waited until she was all the way inside the house before he wandered of whistling to himself unable to keep the grin off his face.

 


	10. The Trappers and The Trap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first few days of Dragon Training go surprisingly well. Then Daret's message arrives.

 

 

           Stoick had woken early that first morning after Hiccup had returned to Berk, he was quite excited to have a family again even if he wasn’t quite sure how to handle this new very different woman his daughter had grown into. He crept up the stairs to the loft bedroom that he had left alone for five years. However instead of finding his daughter asleep in her bed he found it empty, the blanket rumpled as if it had been tossed aside, the window was open and there was no other sign that the room had been slept in at all. Fear building in his chest Stoick rushed out of the house, unconsciously grabbing his axe on the way. He rushed through the town for any sign of Hiccup but Gobber was a much better tracker than him. He pounded on Gobbers door until the bleary eyed Viking answered rubbing his eyes with his one good hand. Once he was informed of the situation he began trying to find Hiccup. About ten minutes into their search something occurred to Gobber. 

            “Did ya check with the dragons?” Stoick frowned, he hadn’t thought to check the arena, after all the Hiccup he had known wouldn’t willingly set foot into the place before dragon training began. Gobber sighed.

            “Come on then.” They made their way to the arena as the rest of the town began to stir, the sun was only now coming up. The door to the arena was propped open enough for someone small and lithe to slip in. Stoick pulled the door open all the way as silently as he could, not wanting to disturb sleeping dragons. They were piled up in the center of the arena wrapped around each other so it was hard to tell exactly where one dragon ended and the other began. Toothless, by contrast, lay next to the large confusing pile of dragons curled up like a cat with one wing carefully folded against his side while the other wing was stretched out so it covered his left side, where his tail was tucked in. The instant Stoick and Gobber stepped into the arena however there was a flurry of movement as every dragon raised its head and Toothless leapt to his feet, a human figure rolling out from under his wing and pulling a sword seemingly out of thin air. There was an almost inaudible click and suddenly the sword was engulfed in flames and Stoick saw the half-awake face of his daughter. He breathed a sigh of relief as she rubbed her eye with her weaponless hand and looked around for the threat. When she spotted Stoick and Gobber she relaxed and the swords blade retracted back into its hilt. Gobber grinned at her. 

            “You’re gonna have to show me how you did that Hiccup.” Hiccup grinned.

            “Took a lot of time and many mistakes. Doesn’t work on axes, just ask Heather.” Hiccup jerked her thumb at one of the open pen doors. There was a grumbling and Heather stuck her head around the door, her hair in disarray as she stuck her tongue out at Hiccup. Hiccup grinned at her friend and turned back to Stoick and Gobber.

            “Sorry about them, they just aren’t used to this many people yet.” She motioned to the dragons then ran a hand through her hair looking a bit confused.

            “Was there something wrong?” Stoick shook his head looking down at his shoes. Gobber sighed, they really just weren’t very good at this. Aster showed up a few minutes later which was a blessing because it broke the awkward silence that had grown almost unbearable.

 

 

 

            The next four days passed without any notable incident between dragon and Viking though the twins had set a shed on fire with the help of Barf and Belch, Stoick had yelled at the twins while Hiccup chastised the dragon, making it absolutely clear that if they did it again they would have her and Toothless to deal with. On the fifth day the terrible terror had arrived. It flew into town and circled the center of town clearly confused, crying out for something. The riders were all in the arena and saw the way Hiccup seemed to suddenly become distracted then without warning raced off out of the arena. Aster pelted after her, worry written on his face. Hiccup was talking to the terror in town square, oblivious of the stares she was attracting. Many of the townspeople of Berk had heard that she could speak to dragons but most of them hadn’t seen it yet. Hiccup took a small slip of paper from a tube on the terrors collar. She read it quickly and bolted back to the arena before Aster could catch his breath to ask her what was going on. When he finally managed to get back to the arena she was already mounting Toothless, helmet under her arm. 

            “Hiccup what’s going on!?” She turned to him, determination in her eyes.

            “Daret sent word, the ice spitter attacked again last night, it’s not that far a flight. A trapper base, one we didn’t know about. He thinks it might be Erets.” Aster looked at her utterly lost, Hiccup sighed exasperatedly. She wasn’t mad at him but this was the first solid lead she had to Drago in quite some time, she didn’t have time to tell them all of this but she had to. Eret served almost directly under Drago, not a general of any kind but a high up trapper who reported directly to the man himself. Stoick, who had been spending time with Skullcrusher in the arena when Hiccup had received the message, looked up concerned.

            “What do you plan to do if you do manage to get Drago’s location out of this Eret?” Hiccups face hardened. 

            “What I have to. I’d like to talk him down if I can but if I can’t I’ll do what I have to.” Aster’s stomach turned at the thought of Hiccup fighting a person, an unknown person who was a definite threat. It made him feel sick to think of her going about this alone. Stoick seemed to share that feeling because he’d gone white as a sheet. 

            “No. No I won’t let you face Drago. He’s too dangerous. I absolutely will not allow it.” Hiccup’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

             “And how exactly do you plan to stop me?” Hiccup slipped on her helmet and took off on Toothless before Stoick could say anything. Stoick swore, loudly and colorfully but there was no way Skullcrusher was going to be able to catch up with a night fury when they were flying full out as they had been. Aster whistled and Stormfly flew over to him. He mounted up, ignoring Stoick who was saying something, probably demanding he stay where he was but Aster wasn’t about to let Hiccup do this alone. It didn’t take him long to catch up with her, nadders were quite fast, not as fast as a night fury but they could hold their own. Hiccup glanced over her shoulder and Aster heard her muffled yell.

            “You’re not gonna stop me Aster.” Aster frowned and shouted back.

            “Wouldn’t dream of it. I’d like to help though. You said you’d need help in this fight, remember.” Toothless dropped to a lower speed and soared over to Aster and Stormfly. She sighed.

            “I know, and I do need help but I can’t stand him thinking I can’t do anything. I thought I proved him wrong you know?” Aster nodded slightly, he was a bit disappointed in Stoick himself. Hiccup cleared her throat and nodded.

            “Let’s go, knowing Daret he’s probably started without us.” Aster found out what Hiccup meant about an hour later when they began circling the battle that was raging. Daret was riding Skyclaw doing his best to avoid the nets and bolas being flung his way. Hiccup and Toothless zoomed around the area taking out all the hidden traps before soaring up to Daret and speaking, Daret nodded but he was frowning as the three riders soared down to the deck of the ship. They landed in front of the trappers one of whom stepped forward. He was tall with black hair and what could only be a tattoo on his chin.

            “Well, if it isn’t the Dragon Valkyrie. I gotta say I expected someone more impressive than a little girl.” Aster could hear the smile in Hiccup’s voice when she spoke.

            “And you must be Eret.” The man nodded, smiling as he drew his sword.

            “I am indeed Eret son of Eret, best dragon trapper around. And here I thought I’d be going back to Drago empty handed thanks to your other rider friend and that ice spitter.” Hiccup shook her head.

            “No need for the sword Eret. We surrender. That means you get three dragons and their riders, bet Drago will be happy with that.” The man, Eret, raised an eyebrow, confused as Hiccup pulled open the grate in the middle of the ship that led to the brig and motioned Daret and Aster to go below. Confused Aster followed Daret down below. They could hear Hiccup still talking to Eret, something about the dragons not liking closed spaces but Aster had turned to Daret.

            “What in Hel is she doing?” Daret shrugged.

            “Being aggressively confusing. That’s what Heather and I call it anyway. It’s how she gets people to listen to her, do the opposite of what they expect.” There was an explosion on deck and Aster flinched. Daret bit back a laugh.

            “Idiots set off the zippleback gas in her sword.” Hiccup who had been standing at the edge of the brig, head and shoulders above the edge ignoring the two boys behind her, stepped back out of the brig and Aster could just hear her speaking.

            “Let me show you.” Daret and Aster stuck their heads up through the entrance of the brig to see Hiccup standing with Toothless by her side, helmet sitting by her feet, her hand outstretched to Eret who looked confused but curious. He began to hesitantly reach out his hand when suddenly Hiccup was snatched off the deck of the ship with a slight scream. Aster tensed and dove for Stormfly as Toothless roared. Then they saw who was on the large red dragon that had grabbed hold of Hiccup. Snotlout was whooping in triumph, ignoring Hiccup who was shouting at him. The other teens were circling the ship on their own dragons and close behind Aster could see what looked like Gobber and Stoick riding their dragons. He was distracted however when he heard Hiccup growl at Hookfang who immediately let her go. She curled in on herself and Asters heart plummeted as Hiccup fell with no dragon to catch her this time. Then she snapped her arms out and in doing so pulled out pieces on her armor that created what looked like a small set of wings stretching from her knees to her wrists. She glided down through the air catching the sail of the ship. The other riders were landing on the ship now and Daret was attempting to hide behind Aster and Aster could understand why. Hiccup looked like she could breathe fire herself at any moment she was so angry. 

            “What in Hel do you think you’re doing?!” She was visibly fuming at Snotlout who looked confused.

            “Uh rescuing you.” Hiccup growled in frustration as Stoick and Gobber landed. Eret tried to take control of the situation but Stoick pushed him out of the way and Grump, Gobber’s dragon, laid on top of him ensuring he wouldn’t be going anywhere soon, which Ruffnut seemed very happy about. Hiccup held out her hand to Stormfly who dropped her hilt back in her hand.

            “I don’t need rescuing! I was doing perfectly fine.” Stoick raised his voice as Hiccup bent and picked up her helmet.

            “Enough! Hiccup, you aren’t facing Drago and that’s final.” Hiccup’s eyes narrowed dangerously and Daret and Heather, who had just landed on an ice flow near the ship, both flinched.

            “I don’t need you to take care of me. I can take care of myself, the last five years should have proved that to you.” Hiccup jammed her helmet onto her head and mounted Toothless in the ringing silence that followed her statement. Aster reached out a hand to her but she was already taking off, seconds later she was just a black blur on the horizon. Stoick swore.

 

 

 

            Hiccup and Toothless were flying just above the clouds when Hiccup simply couldn’t hold in her frustration any more. She screamed throwing her hands into the air and yelling at nothing. She was upset at her father for not having faith in her, but she was also upset at herself for lashing out at him. Now she’d lost her way into Drago’s camp. She lay back so she was flat along Toothless’s back and sighed. He rumbled at her as they kept flying. 

            “It’s ok buddy. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.” They flew on in silence for a few minutes then they both heard the flap of wings to their left. Hiccup turned her head, helmet still in place and growled.

            “Come on dad! I…” She trailed off as a figure rose out of the clouds that was decidedly not her father. She was tall, dressed in brown and blue armor, with a helmet that resembled a dragon, horns and all. She was standing atop a large four winged dragon. Hiccup froze one hand going to Toothless’s head to reassure him.

            “It’s ok bud, no sudden movements.” Toothless rumbled in agreement then bellowed a warning as he heard wings approaching from behind. They dove to the side but neither of them had heard the gronkle waiting for them below. Hiccup felt the blow to her head through her helmet, her word spun for an instant as she began to fall, then everything went black.

 

 

            Toothless bellowed in fury and fear as he felt Hiccup fall from his back. Her helmet slipped off and he could see her eyes were closed and there was a small trail of blood leaking out from under her hairline. He was falling with no way to stop it.  He roared in distress as he watched Hiccup falling. Then the four winged dragon and its rider were diving past him. The Stormcutter caught Hiccup’s limp form around the middle as Toothless plummeted into the icy water. Trying to balance on the icy flows he watched as his rider was carried off, completely helpless. Then several large Thunderdrums pulled him beneath the water’s surface.

 

 

 


	11. After All This Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup gets the answer to a question she's been asking herself since she was a child.

 

 

            _“She smells like one of us, but also not like one of us.”_ Hiccup didn’t recognize the voice but she did recognize dragoneese when she heard it. Her head hurt and it took her a moment to get her bearings, though she stayed still as she was aware that there was at least one unfamiliar dragon in the area that might attack if she made any sudden moves. 

            _“She smells a like that nightfury.”_ Ok so two unfamiliar dragons, most likely more. Hiccup opened her eyes. The cave she was in, for that’s what it had to be, was almost pitch black. The only light was a slightly blueish glow coming from the entrance and the eyes of the dragons that surrounded her. Her head was throbbing but she kept her face clear of any pain. She carefully and slowly reached down to the hilt at her side as the dragons backed off warily. She clicked the button on the hilt that extended the blade and lit the monstrous nightmare saliva on fire. She rolled to her feet wobbling slightly as she did. She twirled the blade around slowly, letting the dragons see that she could create fire just like them. There was a noise behind her as several other dragons came to investigate. She clicked the button again and retracted the blade. Deftly she switched cartridges, the empty that the trappers had set off for a new one, and let the zippleback gas stream out the other end of the hilt. Spinning made her head hurt worse but she did it anyway making sure every dragon watching could see the gas. She set off the spark and the dragons pulled back slightly as the gas went up in a quick burst of fire, she rose and stowed her hilt in one fluid motion. Slowly, carefully she stepped forward towards one of the nearer dragons, her hand outstretched. There was a noise to her left that made Hiccup draw back, hands slightly raised in surrender. The figure from before was in front of her, the woman in the strange armor. Hiccup was worried for Toothless but she needed to survive this encounter to get to him, she was no help to him dead. 

            “Who are you? The Dragon Thief we’ve overhead the trappers talking about?” The woman circled her, silent as a statue. Hiccup tensed slightly.

            “Do you work for Drago Bludvist?” Her tone was quite harsh at the thought, fear driving her to anger rather quickly. If this strange woman worked for Drago then Toothless was likely as good as dead already, likely left to drown under the ice. Hiccup thought she saw a bit of a shake to the woman’s head but she wasn’t sure. The woman just kept circling. 

            “Do you even understand what I’m saying?” Hiccup weighed her chances but chose not to speak dragoneese around this woman until she could be sure of where this woman’s loyalties lay, with the dragons that surrounded them or with the tyrant Bludvist. The woman twirled the staff in her hand and a rattling noise covered the growls the woman made enough so that Hiccup couldn’t make out the words but she could still tell that the woman was speaking dragoneese. But before she could process that fact fully the snafflefang that had tried to snatch her off of Toothless flew over the crowd of dragons with someone very familiar in its claws.           

            “Toothless!” Hiccup rushed forward, not caring that it made her head hurt so bad the world around her swam. Hiccup hugged Toothless tight, slamming her eyes shut to keep the world from spinning. Toothless warbled and crooned.

            “ _Are you alright? If they hurt you at all I swear I’ll…”_ Hiccup smiled up at Toothless.

            “ _Just a bump on the head bud. I’ll be ok. You had me worried there for a minute though.”_ There was a thump and a rattle and the dragons that they had both forgotten about filled their mouths with fire giving Hiccup a clearer view of the figure in brown and blue. She still wore her helmet. Toothless crouched protectively next to Hiccup, a threatening growl building in his throat. The woman crouched and dropped her shield and staff. She crawled forward on all fours. Toothless hissed at her stepping further in front of Hiccup. Hiccup put a hand on his head, their signal to calm down, there was no need for blood to be shed if it could be avoided. The strange woman waved her hands in an intricate movement and in a few minutes Toothless had fallen over, half asleep. Hiccup took a step back from the woman as she walked closer. The woman didn’t stop, Hiccup almost tripped over Toothless’s tail. The woman reached up and removed her helmet tossing it to the side. Then she moved closer to Hiccup and gasped as she reached out for the scar on her chin. She drew back in shock, seeming to make herself as small as possible, like frightened dragons did. 

            “Hiccup? Could it be? After all this time?” She took a step forward tentatively.

            “How is this possible?” She didn’t seem to be talking to Hiccup this time, but to herself. 

            “Sh… Should I know you?” The woman looked back up at Hiccup a sad almost broken expression on her face. 

            “No. You were only a babe.” The woman stood up a bit straighter, looking Hiccup in the eye. 

            “But a mother never forgets.”

 

 


	12. Learning The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup talks to her mother, for the first time in her life.

 

 

            Hiccup stood completely frozen for what felt like a full minute. The two women stared at each other before she smiled and beckoned Hiccup forward. 

            “Come.” With that she scampered off away from Hiccup towards the lighter end of the cave. Hiccup stammered and raced after her. 

            “What! Wait you can’t just drop something like that on me and run away! You’re my mother!? Do you understand how crazy that sounds!” Hiccup followed her through the caves and tunnels barely keeping up. Her head still hurt like crazy and she knew Toothless was confused as hell but she needed to know if this crazy feral dragon lady really was her mother. It would explain quite a few things now that she thought about it but she needed to be sure. Toothless helped her up a steep incline.

            “Everyone said you were dead! Everyone thinks you were eaten by…” Hiccup made her way out of the tunnel into what could only be described as a paradise. Though the roof of the cavern was made of the same ice that had destroyed so many trapper keeps and strongholds, the rocks were covered in rich vegetation. Exotic fruits sprouted from bushes and trees Hiccup had never seen before. The sight was made all the more beautiful for all the dragons that flew and frolicked around. Dragons of every color and species Hiccup had ever seen. It took her breath away to see them looking so free and happy and safe. Toothless nudged her and pointed up. Hiccup looked up and saw the Stormcutter and her mother hanging from the ceiling, her mother hooked onto the dragon by the staff she carried. Her mother smiled tentatively as several dragons, all different species and colors gathered around to sniff at the new arrivals. Hiccup absently scratched a snafflefang on the snout as she looked around trying to take it all in. 

            “This is where you’ve been for the last twenty years?” Valka nodded as she came down from the ceiling, using her staff to lower herself down. Hiccup looked around, stunned. 

            “You’ve been rescuing them.” It wasn’t really a question but Valka answered anyway. 

            “Yes.” There was an awkward pause as Hiccup looked around at the beauty that surrounded her. Valka broke the silence. 

            “Do you like it?” Hiccup swiped at her eyes briefly and turned back to her mother. She nodded. 

            “Yes, I mean I just don’t have the words.” Valka smiled a bit wider, stepping tentatively forward.

             “You’re not upset?” Hiccup shook her head, smiling herself.

            “No. It’s a bit much to take in, it’s not every day you find out your mother is a crazy feral vigilante dragon lady. I never knew how much we’d have in common.” Hiccup laughed slightly and turned back to Toothless who was trying to get the other dragons to leave him alone. Hiccup shooed the other dragons away and hugged her friend. Toothless warbled at her, concerned. 

            “ _Are you alright Hiccup?”_ Hiccup nodded against his scales. Valka smiled slightly and stepped tentatively forward. To Hiccup’s slight surprise Valka warbled at Toothless, speaking perfect Dragonesse. 

            “ _It is lovely to meet you. I am so sorry about earlier but you can understand my confusion, I’ve never seen another rider before.”_ Toothless nodded and smiled a gummy smile at Valka. Hiccup grinned at her mother. 

            “He’s beautiful, how on earth did you manage…” Hiccup interrupted her.

             “I found him in the forest, shot down and wounded.” Valka grimaced, clearly only just now getting a good look at Toothless’ missing tail fin. She motioned to a snafflefang behind Hiccup.

            “This snafflefang lost his leg to one of Drago Bludvist’s iron traps. This raincutter had her wing sliced by razor netting. This poor hobblegrunt was blinded by a tree snare and left to die, scared and alone. And what of this? Did Drago and his trappers do this too?” Hiccup laughed a bit nervously. 

            “The irony of the thing is that I’m actually the one who shot him down. It was about five years ago. Of course no one on Berk believed me, I was pretty useless back then. So I went out into the forest and found him trapped in my bola. But I just couldn’t kill him. So instead we became friends. And besides be got me back eventually.” Hiccup grinned as her mother raised a confused eyebrow. 

            “Right buddy, you couldn’t save all of me could you?” Toothless rolled his eyes at the girl as she gestured down to her false foot.  Valka stared at the two, a slight smile on her face but then she looked back down at the false tail fin. 

            “How did your father take finding out about our night fury friend?” Hiccup ran a hand through her hair, flinching as her palm caught against the small cut in her hairline. Valka noticed and frowned stepping carefully closer to get a look at her injury. She gasped slightly. 

            “You’re hurt! Come with me, you can tell me all about it while we fix you up.” Hiccup smiled slightly as she and Toothless followed her mother towards another cave set into the wall of the mountain.

 

 

 

 

            “Stubborn, boar headed, never listens just like her mother. Thinks she can take on the world alone!” Gobber shook his head listening to Stoic rant. Daret and Heather were glancing at each other from under their hoods. Stoic had been unable to make them stay behind with the other riders. He had tried but Heather had shut him up by simply stating that she and Daret didn’t answer to him they answered to Hiccup. 

            “Is he always like this?” Daret shouted at Gobber over the rushing wind. Gobber nodded.

             “Only when he cares. You should have seen him when Hiccup first disappeared.” Stoic shot a look at Gobber who shut up rather quickly. Gobber cleared his throat.

            “She’ll be fine Stoic, nothing can touch her with that night fury looking after her. Besides we have no idea what she’s faced these past five years. I’m betting a dragon the size of a mountain was only one of her adventures. Am I right Heather?” Heather nodded fervently but didn’t elaborate. Instead she dove straight down towards the icy water below. Stoic raised an eyebrow at Daret.

             “She must have spotted something.” Sure enough when Heather and Windshear were back on the same level as the other riders she was holding a very familiar something in her hands. Her green eyes flashed with rage as she ran a finger over a slight dent in the surface of the leather and scales. She tossed it to Stoic who almost dropped it in surprise as he caught Hiccup’s helmet. Daret’s eyes widened in fear.

            “She never goes anywhere without that!” Stoic’s fingers tightened around the object as his heart jumped into his throat.

            “Scullcrusher can find her, he’s a tracker class. They can find a three-week old trail in a snowstorm, just let him smell her helmet.” Stoic nodded at Heather before leaning forward in his saddle and letting Scullcrusher get a good whiff of her helmet. 

            “Find them Scullcrusher.” The dragon roared and the small search party flew off into the icy wind.   

 


	13. Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valka tends to Hiccup's wound. Aster gets an idea.

            Valka lead Hiccup back into a cave set into the wall. It resembled Hiccup’s cave back on Dragon Island, with a small table and a few other human touches but just like Hiccup’s cave it was clear that dragons were the main occupant of this cave. Valka sat her daughter down on a log near the fire pit and Toothless curled up around her as Valka bustled around what appeared to be the makeshift kitchen. There was a companionable silence for a few minutes until Valka walked back over and knelt down in front of Hiccup a bowl in her hands. Toothless turned his nose up at the smell coming from the bowl and grumbled. Hiccup laughed slightly. Valka raised an eyebrow.

            “He hates stuff like that. Claims it smells funny for weeks. He’s not entirely wrong.” Valka grinned slightly then a frown grew on her face as she looked down at the bowl.

            “Gothi can’t make this on Berk. The herbs don’t grow there.” Hiccup looked down at her mismatched feet as she nodded.

             “Never said Berk.” Valka placed a gentle hand under her daughters chin and tilted her head up. She dipped two fingers in the mixture and carefully dabbed it onto the wound on her daughter’s head.

            “Tell me everything.” So Hiccup did, from her disastrous final exam to her defeat of the Red Death. Her friendship with Heather and her other dragon riders, their different homes over the past five years both in and beyond the archipelago. She told her mother of all the riders and their adventures, of leaving several of them behind outside the archipelago to defend their real home while she Heather and Daret investigated the news of a rouge dragon army. Here she paused. Toothless warbled at her in concern and she patted him on the head.

             “I’m ok buddy. It’s just still weird.” Her mother raised an eyebrow at Hiccup who grinned and told her of her return to Berk. Her last five days on that island were gone over in detail but Valka still looked skeptical.

            “I tried too Hiccup but some people can’t change. I always believed that dragons were more than we ever thought of them. It was a very unpopular opinion.” They had wandered away from Valka’s cave back into the main cavern of the mountain. Valka told the story of how she had met and been carried off by Cloudjumper, her Stormcutter. Hiccup frowned slightly at the larger dragon and Valka laughed.

            “Oh Cloudjumper never meant to hurt me. He just thought I belonged here. In the home of the great Bewilderbeast.” They rounded the corner and Hiccup gasped. The largest dragon she’d ever seen sat in a pool of water. It was twice the size of the Red Death and white with black tips on his spikes. He looked to be asleep at the moment but even asleep he was magnificent. Valka smiled at the wonder on her daughters face. 

            “Every nest has its Queen but this is the King of all dragons, the Alpha species." Hiccup inched forward fascinated as Valka continued.

             “With his icy breath he built our nest. He protects us. We are all his subjects, the dragons listen to him. Well except for the babies.” Hiccup laughed as she watched several dragons that though they were bigger than her were clearly still adolescents jump and climb on the bewilderbeast and nodded.

            “He’s the one who’s been destroying trapper bases.” Valka nodded. 

            “That’s right. I helped him plan the assaults and free the dragons the trappers had captured.” Hiccup nodded to herself. She had thought there was more planning behind those attacks than an angry dragon was capable of. Valka smiled at her daughter.

             “Would you like to meet him?” Hiccup lit up like a star in the dark night. She was always excited when it came to meeting new dragons. Toothless laughed and Hiccup glared at him.

            “Yes please.” Valka lead Hiccup to an outcropping of rock near the pool in which the dragon rested. Toothless and Cloudjumper followed. The great beast blew a breath and the babies scampered away. Then he turned to the two females on the rocks. Valka bowed before him but Hiccup was too stunned. The large dragon smiled a toothy grin at them and spoke in the rumbling roars all dragons used. There was something else behind these noises though the ability to control but not the intent.

             “ _I see you have finally found your hatchling Valka.”_ Valka nodded and smiled as Cloudjumper butted his head against her hand.

            _“More like she found me, my lord.”_ The dragon nodded and turned to Hiccup. 

            “ _Welcome to our home young one. I see you have grown to be much like your mother, but different. You are even more like us than she. The soul of a dragon with the heart of a leader of men.”_ The beast blew a gentle breath of icy air at Hiccup, frosting over her hair and eyebrows. Valka laughed slightly.

             “He likes you.” Hiccup couldn’t keep the smile off her face. The beast seemed to have finished speaking to them for he turned and dove into the pool. Valka tapped Hiccup on the shoulder.

            “Are you hungry?” Hiccup shrugged.

            “Yeah I could eat.” Valka’s smile widened and she beckoned Hiccup and Toothless forward.

            “Good, its feeding time.” Valka mounted Cloudjumper and after exchanging confused looks Hiccup mounted Toothless and they took off after Hiccup’s mother.

 

 

 

            Aster sat on Stormfly’s back watching the rapidly lightening sky with a horrible feeling in his gut. Something had happened to the others. 

            “They should have been back by now.” Snotlout snored himself awake at his words and shook his head. Tuffnut was staring into space while Ruffnut had her head in her hands. Fishlegs nodded but looked nervous.

             “I mean I think you’re right but the chief said wait here.” Tuffnut nodded.

             “Fishface is right, he did say wait for them to get back.” Ruffnut moaned into her hands. 

            “Eret, son of Eret was the man of my dreams.” Snotlout pouted slightly.

             “But baby I grew facial hair for you!” Fishlegs looked disappointed.

             “Me too.” Aster rolled his eyes.

             “Enough! They could be in real trouble.” Tuffnut sighed and rolled his eyes.

             “The chief said to stay here. And the only people who don’t have to listen to him are Heather and that other dragon rider guy. And Hiccup, but Hiccup doesn’t listen to anyone anymore, is it weird I find her a lot more attractive now than I ever did back then?” Aster growled at him, sounding just like Stormfly who laughed.

             “There won’t be a chief if they’ve all been captured!” Fishlegs wrung his hands together.

             “What are we gonna do?” Aster’s eyes narrowed.

            “I’ve got an idea.”

 

 

 


	14. Like A Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valka disapproves of Hiccup's plan. Hiccup isn't to be dissuaded.

            After a few hours exchanging stories about dragons and adventures they had been on the two women were flying through the clouds on their dragons. Valka stretched her arms into the air. 

            “When I’m up here I don’t even feel the cold. I just feel…” Valka paused looking for the word. Hiccup grinned.

             “Free.” Valka smiled at her daughter then turned her face back to the wind.

             “This is what it is to be a dragon Hiccup.” Hiccup grinned down at Toothless before securing his tail.

             “It’s all well and good to call yourself a dragon, but can you fly?” With no more warning than that Hiccup dove off Toothless’s head. She let herself free fall for a full minute before pulling out the makeshift wings of her flight suit. She glided for another minute before pressing a small switch in the side of her armor that released a fin on the back of her armor. This was designed to help her sustain flight longer and control where she went with a greater ease. She heard Cloudjumper mutter something in dragoneese but couldn’t make out the words. Hiccup flipped upside down looking back the way they had come to see her mother’s face but to her surprise she wasn’t there anymore. Then she heard Cloudjumpers wings and looked to her right spotting her mother flying up to her to get a better look at the rig. She grinned as she flipped back over then she looked directly in her flight path as the clouds moved out of the way and cried out for Toothless. There was a very large rock formation right in her flight path.

             “Oh come on! Not again!” With a frantic effort Toothless reached Hiccup and tried to wrap her in his wings to protect her from the fall. When he unfurled his wing there was nothing but snow. He was just about to panic when Hiccup popped out of the snow like a dandelion laughing loudly.

             “We almost had it that time! We were so close!” Toothless pouted.

              “We have got to try that again!” He was having none of that and tripped Hiccup with his tail forcing her to land in the deep snow once again. She laughed as he grumbled about stupid reckless humans. Valka pulled Hiccup to her feet examining the flight suit.

             “Hiccup that was amazing.” Hiccup grinned as Valka examined the wing of the suit.

             “Not so bad yourself.” Valka caught her daughters eyes her hand resting on her cheek. She drew it away quickly, then tentatively replaced it. Hiccup leaned into the touch wanting to spend every moment she could with the mother she’d never known.

             “All this time you took after me.” Valka brushed Hiccup’s hair out of her face, tears building in her eyes.

             “I can teach you everything I’ve learned these past twenty years. Watch this.” Valka walked over to Toothless and carefully pressed down on a spot just behind his head. He squirmed slightly as the spines on his back split apart so there were two sets not one. Toothless shook once and laughed bounding over to Hiccup and clapping his spines together.

             “Now he can make those tight turns.” Hiccup grinned as Toothless scampered around.

            “How did you know that?” Valka smiled wide. 

            “Every dragon has their secrets, and I’ll show them all to you. We’ll unlock every mystery, find every last dragon. Together as mother and daughter.” Hiccup laughed as Toothless burrowed through the snow before dumping a significant amount onto Cloudjumper’s head with a wing. Cloudjumer waited for Toothless to stop moving then dumped it back onto his head.

             “This gift we share Hiccup, it bonds us. This is who you are, who we are. We’ll change the world for all dragons. We’ll make it a better safer place.” Hiccup couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled so wide.

             “That sounds amazing Mom.” Valka hugged Hiccup close and Hiccup tried to hold back tears as she returned the embrace. After a minute or so they broke apart.

             “This is great! Now you and I can go talk to Drago together!” Valka frowned.

             “There’s no talking to Drago.” Hiccup frowned.

             “We have to try; everyone deserves a second chance.” Valka shook her head.

              “No we must protect our own.” She scratched Cloudjumper under the chin.

              “Come on we should be getting back.” Hiccup rolled her eyes and looked around for Toothless who was standing nearby clapping his spines together. She grinned slightly.

 

 

 

 

            Eret was livid. They were stuck out between two ice flows with no dragons, no riders and no weapons. Drago was going to kill him this time. Or so he thought before he was snatched off the deck of his ship one arm and one leg caught in the claws of a familiar dragon. 

            “You lot again! What now?” The blonde one, he’d never learned their names, leaned over the dragon currently carrying him.

             “We’re kidnapping you! You’re going to show us where Drago’s hideout is.” Eret sagged in the dragon’s grip.

             “Well if that’s the case just kill me now.” The blonde boy smiled.

             “That can be arranged. Stormfly, drop him.” The dragon let go of him and he screamed as he fell. Aster waited a moment before patting Stormfly on the head.

             “Stormfly, fetch.” The dragon dove down, catching Eret just before he would have hit the ice. Eret clutched onto the dragon’s talons. 

             “Alright! I’ll take you to Drago!” Aster chuckled and cracked his knuckles.

             “Works every time.” Fishlegs raised an eyebrow at him.

             “Aster what do you mean? You’ve never done that before.” Aster grinned.

             “I haven’t, but Hiccup has. She did it to me, worked like a charm.”

 

 

 

 

 

            Hiccup rechecked her armor one more time. Her mother was off checking on a few injured dragons. Toothless rolled his eyes at her as she looked around for her helmet, sighing when she realized she must have lost it in the fall. 

            “Oh well. Come on Toothless. We have to try.” Toothless sighed.

             “ _It’s probably pointless, you do know that right Hiccup.”_ Hiccup nodded.

             “I know, but everyone deserves a chance.” Before she could say anything else someone grabbed her from behind, one hand around her waist one at her mouth. She drove her elbow back into her assailant’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him and breaking free from his grip at the same time. She spun round and drew her hilt only to stop before letting the blade free. 

            “Dad!?” Stoic coughed trying to catch his breath. Heather stepped out of the shadows, hood and mask in place.

             “I told you that was a bad idea.” Stoic glared at her as he caught his breath. Hiccup put away her hilt as Stoic finally managed to stand back up straight.

             “What are you two doing here?” Heather was about to speak when Stoic cut across her.

            “We’re saving you.” Hiccup’s eyes narrowed but didn’t quite hit danger levels.

             “I don’t need saving. Please tell me he just meant the two of you when he said we.” The last was directed at Heather who looked over her shoulder at Daret who was peeking out from behind one of the rocks. Gobber came out from around the corner at that moment making Hiccup sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose.

             “Did you bring everyone?” Heather grinned at her friend but the smile didn’t last long as Stoic grabbed his daughters arm and practically dragged her into the tunnel. Heather wanted to like Stoic she really did, but she just couldn’t. After everything Hiccup had told her riders about her life on Berk and specifically the father she could never please she couldn’t like this man.

             “Dad listen, there’s something I need to tell you.” Stoic nodded clearly not listening.

             “You can tell me on the way.” Hiccup shook her head as she finally managed to pull her arm free of her father’s grip.

             “This really isn’t an on the way kind of update.” Heather caught up to Hiccup and muttered in her ear.

             “He’s always like this?” Hiccup nodded, rolling her eyes at the same time but they had finally caught up with Gobber who stood frozen in the entrance to another cave. He stepped back and patted Stoic on the shoulder.

             “You should take this one.” With that he sat down next to the entryway. Heather fingered her axe but a look from Hiccup was enough to have her not only letting go of the axe but also raising an eyebrow. Hiccup only flashed that look when someone threatened those she considered to be family. What could possibly be in that cave?


	15. Caught

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aster makes a gamble, and immediately regrets his decision.

            The teens had a hard time holding in their laughter as Stormfly landed on top of a very put upon Eret. He grumbled as they dismounted and he glared at Aster.

             “I got you here, now get this thing off me!” Aster shook his head.

             “Never take a toy from a Dragon. That’s lesson number three.” Fishlegs giggled nervously as the five of them snuck over to the snowy outcropping that overlooked the armada in the bay beneath them. At the center of the circles of ships something was bubbling and breathing under the water. Aster frowned and spoke quietly.

             “Fishlegs any idea what’s down there?” The bigger boy shook his head.

             “Gotta be a class six at least. But nothing Heather’s told me matches that size, it’s gotta be massive for the size of those bubbles. It’s definitely not in the book of dragons.” Fishlegs had spent most of the last five days in deep conversation with Heather and when he could Hiccup about the different types of Dragons they had encountered and what they were capable of. He’d been adding everything he could to the Book of Dragons but Heather claimed they had their own version back home. When Fishlegs had volunteered to fly back to Dragon Island to retrieve the book Heather had shaken her head. She wouldn’t explain why, she only said not there.

 

 

            They were all distracted by Stormfly warbling a warning and taking to the sky. Their dragons were dropped nearly simultaneously by darts fired by men wearing white bear skins. Only Stormfly escaped as the teens circled up drawing weapons. The fight was short, they were outnumbered ten to one. Disarmed their hands were tied, except for Eret, and they were dragged aboard one of the largest ships, the one closest to the flume of bubbles.

 

           

 

            Aster watched in shock as Drago screamed at Hookfang, the dragon looked shocked too. More so when the man pulled a cloak of what looked disturbingly like night fury skin around himself and survived the fire the Monstrous Nightmare blasted his way. The still mostly imobile dragon balked and bowed its head whimpering at the spear thrust deep into the deck of the ship too near his head. Drago didn’t stop there though as Hookfang lowered his head all the way down. Instead he stepped down on the dragons snout. Aster’s mind was running a mile an hour. If that was night fury skin then were they really far too late? He had no doubt that if Toothless was dead someone had stepped over Hiccup’s corpse to make that happen. Or vice versa. He couldn’t be sure. But anger boiled in his veins as Eret babbled to Drago about dragon riders. Then Drago snarled and snatched the man up one handed by the throat. 

            “How many!” Aster almost breathed a sigh of relief. Drago hadn’t encountered dragon riders before. Eret didn’t know how many they had either. That he’d ‘captured’ the majority of them. He had to get Drago scared.

            “Hundreds!” The others were silent around him, trusting him to have a plan. “Whole Islands full!” Eret choked slightly as Drago swung him around so he could see both men at the same time.

             “I wouldn’t worry about them! My men are hunting them as we speak. They’ll have no way of finding you Drago.” What if Hiccup and the others had been caught by Eret’s men. Aster couldn’t think like that right now so he grasped at something Hiccup had told him a few days before.

             “Yes they will! They have tracking dragons! They know we’re missing by now. If you so much as touch us the Dragon Valkyrie will tear you apart!” Aster was smart enough not to bring up Hiccup’s name here. She had gone to great lengths to make sure no one knew who she was after all. He wasn’t about to take that from her. Dagur dropped Eret who choked and coughed. The large man clad in dragon skin stepped forwards and tapped the symbol on Aster’s armor.

             “I know this symbol.” He laughed. “The so called Dragon Valkyrie is going to fools like Stoick. She must be truly desperate.” Eret coughed again.

             “She’s not a problem. Really, I swear.” Drago glared and Eret fell silent. Aster didn’t though.

             “She’s only tamed Islands full of dragons, and brought down a mountain sized dragon singlehanded. She is the greatest Dragon Master this world has ever seen!” Aster was shorter than Drago but he didn’t care. He was staring the man in the face, glaring daggers at the man who had been a thorn in Hiccups side.

             “Dragon Master?” Drago shook his head. “I alone control the dragons!” The other teens broke their silence at that. Giggles broke out among them.

             “Nope.”

             “Not really.”

             “Not even close!”

             “And unless you let us and our dragons go she will blast through here on her night fury and blow your whole fleet to splinters!” He was bluffing, but he was good at bluffing. He had always been good at bluffing. The teens were babbling agreements behind him but he kept his focus on Drago. Drago ignored them. He snatched Eret back up by his throat.

             “First there was one rider! Now whole Islands! All of Berk! You led them to me!” He threw Eret across the deck. One of the guards stepped forward and grabbed hold of Eret before he could rise to defend himself. Drago stepped up on one of the large structures on his ship and shouted.

             “Stop all preparations! We attack the dragon rider’s nest now! We will kill their Alpha! Then we will take Berk!” There were cheers and a rattle of noise as the message was spread around to the other ships. Aster had gone cold. If ever there had been a worse time for someone to call his bluff it had to be now. Drago nodded to Eret who’d struggled his way free.

             “Get rid of him.” The guards advanced weapons drawn. One of them threw a dagger his way and he recoiled only to be saved at the last second by Stormfly diving in front of him and knocking down the guards who had been advancing. Aster called out a warning as a dart flew at his dragon, who went down like a rock. Eret was staring at the downed nadder as he was hauled to his feet and tied like the others. Aster hurled verbal abuse at guards, the others joining him as they were all dragged away from the dragons, to where they had no idea. But with everything that had just happened it couldn’t be good.


End file.
